The unofficial start of the 2017 NCAA Tournament is tonight, which means the deadline for completing your bracket is fast approaching. Most NCAA Tournament brackets do not include the four play-in games , which is why you still have a little bit of time left to complete that last-minute research.
If I were you, I would look no further than this article. This article will give the record and trends of every possible matchup versus every possible opponent. There are a few things you need to do in order to put together a solid bracket.You must do your research on the teams - how they play, strengths, weaknesses, etc. You must be willing to take a shot with an underdog or two . You must find a way to have lady luck shine on your bracket and give you one or two good bounces per round. And lastly, you have to be aware of what the history and trends suggest. Every tournament is different, but the following trends suggest some matchups are predictable.
If you've been filling out a bracket for any extended period of time, you would know by now that the odds of a perfect bracket are one-in-never-going-to-happen. In number form, that equates to around 9.2-quintillion-to-1. You have a better chance of winning the Powerball Lottery than picking a perfect bracket.
Everyone knows that a No.16 seed has never beaten a No.1 seed. That would make them 0-128. While you may bask in the glory for all eternity if you happen to pick the team that pulls off the upset, throwing away four (or more) very important points can prove costly if your goal is to put together the absolute best bracket you can.
NCAA Tournament Seeds - By the Numbers
No. 1 seeds are a perfect 128-0 against No.16 Seeds . You can blindly pencil them in to the Round of 32 each year.
In the Round of 32, No.1 Seeds have a record of 52-12 vs. No. 8 seeds and 59-5 vs. No.9 seeds.
In the Sweet 16, the win-loss records of No.1 seeds are as follows:
No. 1 vs. No. 4 - 34-15
No. 1 vs. No. 5 - 32-7
No. 1 vs. No. 12 -19-0
No. 1 vs. No. 13 - 4-0
In the Elite Eight, No.1 seeds hold win-loss records against the following seeds:
No. 1 vs. No. 2 - 21-23
No. 1 vs. No. 3 - 13-8
No. 1 vs. No. 6 - 7-2
No. 1 vs. No. 7 - 4-0
No. 1 vs. No. 10- 4-1
No. 1 vs. No.11 - 3-3
There has been only one occasion where all four No.1 seeds won their region
and proceeded to the Final Four. The year was 2008, and those teams were
Kansas, UCLA, UNC and Memphis.
The No. 2 seed is 120-8 against the No. 15 seed (.938).
The last No.2 seed to lose to a 15-seed was Michigan State in 2016. They
were defeated by Middle Tennessee State. The furthest a 15-seed has made it
in the tournament was the Sweet 16. That was done by Florida Gulf Coast in
2013.
In the Round of 32, No. 2 Seeds have a record of 54-21 vs. No. 7 seeds and
2-18 vs. No.10 seeds.
In the Round of 16, the win-loss records of No. 2 seeds are as follows:
No. 2 vs. No. 3 - 25-14
No. 2 vs. No. 6 - 23-6
No. 2 vs. No. 11 -12-1
In the Elite 8, No. 2 seeds hold win-loss records against the following seeds:
No. 2 vs. No. 1 - 23-21
No. 2 vs. No. 4 - 2-4
No. 2 vs. No 5 - 0-3
No. 2 vs. No. 8- 2-3
No. 2 vs. No. 9- 0-1
No. 2 vs. No.12 - 1-0
For the sake of space, the rest of the records for opening-round matchups for Nos. 3 through 8 are as follows:
The No. 3 seed is 107-21 against the No. 14 seed (.836)
The No. 4 seed is 102-26 against the No. 13 seed (.797)
The No. 5 seed is 82-46 against the No. 12 seed (.641)
The No. 6 seed is 82-46 against the No. 11 seed (.641)
The No. 7 seed is 78-50 against the No. 10 seed (.609)
The No. 8 seed is 64-64 against the No. 9 seed (.500)
Going off the numbers alone, the likeliest upset pick seems to be the No.10 seed over the No.7 seed. If we take a look at the game lines this year, we will see a No.10 seed (Wichita State) favored by six points over their seventh-seeded opponents (Dayton).
The most popular upset pick bettors and fans tend to look for is the usual No.12 over No.5 and No.13 over No.3. Just by looking at this year's bracket, I believe there will be at least three upsets from those matchups. No.13 Winthrop will give Butler all it can handle, No.12 Middle Tennessee will dominate a Big Ten also-ran in Minnesota, and No.12 Wilmington will sneak by a very overrated Virginia squad.
As I mentioned earlier, if you want to win a March Madness pool, you will have to rely on luck and trends that back you up. What makes a bracket stand out is the Cinderella school that you picked to reach the Elite Eight or Final Four. This is usually make-or-break, but if it makes you then you will reap the benefits of that great selection.
A Cinderella team is usually a lower-seeded mid-major school that plays in a smaller non-Power 5 conference. A recent example of this is Florida Gulf Coast in 2013. They were playing in their first-ever NCAA Tournament and won two games before ultimately falling short in the Sweet 16. Normally "Cinderellas" are well-coached, can spread the floor well and are solid rebounding teams.
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